


John's First Pro-Bending Tournament Dad Would be so Proud

by Toki_Blade



Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra, Homestuck
Genre: Bending (Avatar), Pro-Bending
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-21
Updated: 2014-09-21
Packaged: 2018-02-18 05:32:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,877
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2336984
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Toki_Blade/pseuds/Toki_Blade
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Beta kids living in the Avatar!verse! I'd love to see them as show-canonically POC, and varying their names to fit the setting would be a lovely (but unnecessary) bonus! For John being a bender either a strong dose of handwavium or setting the story in S3 is fine with me. I just love the idea of Jade being a kickass pro-bender who has no patience for her brother's airheadedness, kicking butt with her teammates Dave and Rose (Bec's the mascot, but whether he's just a regular dog or a quirky mix of something else is up to you) and in general it just being a fun little look into the life of regular benders living in Republic City!</p>
            </blockquote>





	John's First Pro-Bending Tournament Dad Would be so Proud

**Author's Note:**

  * For [anthrop](https://archiveofourown.org/users/anthrop/gifts).



> I really hope this is sort of what you were looking for :0  
> Also did you know that the majority of the Avatar characters do not, in fact, have last names.

Jade rushes down the corridor ahead of you, not waiting (never waiting). She’s late. Had to run the whole way here and you’re both out of breath, both shaking and panting but she’s always been in better shape than you and she’s pulling ahead.

She’s probably mad at you, not that she’d ever say (to your face), but you were the one who’d gotten dad to practically force her to bring you along.

Or at least that’s what she’ll probably say to her friends.

Bec is right up next to her, padding along quickly as they pull further ahead.

“Hey,” you call, “wait up!”

Bec’s ear twitches in your direction but he never turns to even look back at you.

Jade pretends she doesn’t hear you.

You pass one of the refs on your way to the room and he scoffs at Jade and tells her that she better ‘hurry it up’, glaring at Bec and you in turn.

She just thanks him and then starts to go faster, she takes the next corner and by the time you catch up to the turn she’s already gone.

It’s not like you need to be on time or anything, you just really wanted to watch the whole thing.

It’s not like they’re waiting for _you_.

When you make it to the room Jade already has her gear on, Dave is rolling his eyes and saying “well at least you actually made it. I swear, sometimes you’re just like-”

He turns and sees you, pausing in mid sentence. You lift a hand to wave- he turns back to Jade and makes constricted sounds in the back of his throat. “ _Jade_ ” he hisses, “ _what the hell is he doing here_?”

You swallow your greeting.

Dave runs his hand down the face of his helmet, he glances back at you, “Not that I don’t love you John, you’re my bro but, Jade. _Seriously_.”

“Sorry, Dave,” she says, standing up and pulling on her own helmet, “my dad made me bring him.”

Called it.

It’s not that Dave isn’t a good guy or anything, or even that he’s not your friend. He’s just kind of an asshole.

“So long as he doesn’t cause any trouble.” Rose says, giving you a pointed look.

You hold up your hands, “Hey, I’m just gonna watch guys, it’s not like I’m gonna do anything.”

Dave groans but doesn’t say anything, he walks over and messes up your hair, “you’d better stay out of any biz-nasty man, seriously.”

You whine at him and push his hand away, “knock it off. I won’t do anything.” He rolls his eyes at you but heads for the platform.

Jade glances at you, then turns toward the arena, “Bec,” she calls, “keep an eye on John.”

The lights dim and they’re off. You vaguely hear the announcer sound off the ‘Deadly Hell Hounds’ as you eye Bec on the floor. “Well buddy, I guess it’s just you and me. Again.”

Bec huffs and lays his head down, facing away from you.

Well then.

The match is exciting as always.

The Hell Hounds win as always.

Jade is awesome as always.

There are a few tight moments when Dave gets a little too cocky and gets pushed back two rings for letting his guard down, and Jade is actually pushed off the platform which surprises everyone, but in the end they win three out of four.

Dave is in a considerably better mood when he gets back to the starting room, he gives you a fistbump and a near smile before heading off to his locker to take off his gear.

Rose gives you a polite smiles, “I’d hug you, John, but I’m afraid I’m a bit sweaty at the moment.”

You shake your head, beaming from ear to ear. “It’s cool Rose. You guys were on _fire_  tonight.”

“Perhaps more Dave than any of us,” she says, then leans forward and lowers her voice in a mocking manner, “quite literally a few times.”

You hear a ‘hey!’ from Dave’s corner and Rose leaves, probably to mock him a bit more.

And then you see her.

Jade, earth bender extraordinaire.

Your sister, your lifeblood.

Your best friend.

She glances up from where she’s busy detailing her glorious victory to Bec.

She grins up at you. “John.”

“Jade.”

Jade apparently doesn’t care that she’s sweaty and soaking wet, or that she was angry with you earlier. She jumps up to wrap her arms around your neck and you swing her around as best you can but Jade is sort of all muscles, and you are at least two years her junior.

“We won!” She stage-whispers in your ear.

“I _know_.” You hiss back. Neither of you can stop smiling.

Jade is sort of all you’ve ever wanted to be in life.

She’s tall, athletic, an amazing bender, smart, nice, good with animals and children- Jade is basically the perfect main character material.

And you’re just her brother.

You’re fine with that- honestly! Because even if that can’t be you, at least it’s someone who you care about, and someone who cares about you. You think that if you were as good as bending as your sister it would probably all go to your head.

Earth is just- it’s hard.

It’s big and heavy and immobile and they expect you to move it with- what- fancy fighting moves? They have pose after pose that you apparently have to memorize to get any good. You’re not a _terrible_  bender (Dave would beg to differ) but you don’t get all the fancy moves that you have to make.

You have been getting better though, getting up with Jade in the morning to work on exercises and running through drills with her. She’s probably the harshest teacher you’ve ever had.

“Jade,” Rose calls, and she pulls away to look at her friend, “you should probably dry off before you catch a cold.”

Jade snorts at her and flaps her hand dismissively, “I am not going to catch a cold from _water_ , Rose. I’m tougher than that.”

-

Jade is, apparently, not ‘tougher than that’.

It’s a week later and she’s still hacking up mucus and bile and running a ridiculous fever.

“I’m _good_ ,” she says, nazly and raw from her bed surrounded by blankets and Bec, “I can still fight tonight, I can still-” she’s interrupted by another coughing fit.

Dave’s running his hands through his hair, trying to calm himself down and obviously failing miserably.  As Jade finishes hacking out her lungs, he leans in front of her and grips her shoulders tightly.  “You are fine, Jade.  You are perfectly _fine_ , and you are going to get out there with us and you are going to be _awesome_  and we are going to _win the motherfucking pro-bending championship_.”

Jade begins nodding emphatically, and Dave nods along with her until their heads are bobbing up and down and it’s actually kind of ridiculous.  “Yeah, yeah, I’m totally-” She starts coughing again and Dave jerks back, but not before getting a faceful of Jade germs.

“Ff- ugh! Nasty!” He wipes at his face with his hand and straightens his sunglasses.

Rose is passing back and forth, biting at her cheeks. “We’re going to have to forfeit,” she says, “we just- we can’t- we have to call if off.”

Dave makes a terrible whine and groans.

And amidst Dave’s moaning and Jade’s coughing and Rose’s passing you get an idea.

A terrible, wonderful, _awesome_  idea.

“Guys,” you say, but they’re all too far in their own heads to really hear you. “Guys!”

All eyes turn to your direction, Jade sniffs.

“What if-” you say, “what if _I_  fought in Jade’s place?”

It’s silent until Dave barks out a laugh, you roll your eyes.

“Now is not the time for jokes, John.” Rose sounds tired and annoyed and you _get that_  but they’re still not _taking you seriously_.

“Guys! I’m not joking! I could do it! I know all the rules, I _know_  how to play. Just give me a chance!”

“Dude,” says Dave, “no offense, but you kind of suck at bending.”

“How is that _not_  offensive?” You ask, “in which universe would I _not_  be offended by that?”

“John,” Rose says, stepping forward and reaching a hand out- you take a step back away from her reach, she pauses. “This is the _championship_. This is the final game of the season. We’ve all worked _very_  hard to get here. We can’t just risk it like that with an inexperienced player. I’m sorry.”

You scoff at her, “And what- you’ll just give up without even _trying_? Maybe we won’t win, but are you really going to just not even give me a chance? Isn’t it better than nothing?”

Dave and Rose share a look.

“You know,” Jade croaks, earning their attention, “you can’t do worse than not trying. Probably.”

“Yeah!” You say, “you can’t do worse than not trying!”

Rose purses her lips.  “Well, if you advocate this Jade, I suppose I don’t have much right to argue.  You have been a friend and teammate of immeasurable value to both Dave and myself, and if you think it would be best to use John in your stead I’m sure that the two of us would be happy to trust your judgement.”

Dave opens his mouth like he’s about to argue, but Rose puts a hand on his shoulder to quiet him.

“However,” she continues, “are you sure this is the wisest course of action?  The name of the Deadly Hell Hounds is a good one, with a strong basis of supporters in the pro-bending community, and I would not wish to tarnish it at the very end of the season.  The damage could be irreparable.”  You are prepared to tell her how ridiculous that is, there’s no way you’re _that bad_ , but she’s not done yet.  “Moreover, we must think of John’s well-being.  Pro-bending is a fast-paced, physical, and frankly, _violent_  game.  There is the possibility that an inexperienced bender could be grievously injured.”

And you are done hearing this.  “Except that I’m _not_  an inexperienced bender, Rose!  I’ve been training for almost as long as Jade has! Maybe I don’t pick up on things as fast as Jade does, but I still know what I’m doing! I can still do this!”

Rose’s lips are still tight, she takes another glance at Jade who nods. “Well then, I guess we have a match to prepare for.”

-

Your opponent is the Adorabloodthirsty Dragons. Their name may be stupid but they are fierce and unrelenting. You’ve heard that they’ve indirectly caused three casualties (one not even during a tournament but you're not really sure how that one happened) and usually put at least one of their opponents in the hospital.

Their Earthbender is a force to be trifled with on his own. The guy is pure muscle and sweat. You’re pretty sure that the Hellhounds’ only plan for him was Jade, but you’re going to try not to think on that too much.

The Waterbender, you’ve heard, is clinically insane. You’ve actually met her once and she didn’t seem that bad? But she did lick you, which was weird.

The Firebender is another story entirely. He’s one of the top benders in the city, not to mention your generation, and has anger issues beyond all help. You heard that he was arrested once for burning down a public library, and also put a guy in a coma. Also he apparently has the longest standing record of being banned from more establishments than anyone else in the history of the city.

You’re pretty sure Dave also has a man crush on the guy.

None of these can actually be proved though, so you’ll just file them away in the ‘probably just hearsay’ category for now.

You’re in the prep room and you don’t think that your heart has ever been beating faster.

Dave just gave you the lowdown of the opposing team and you’re not sure if he did it to pump you up or freak you out but you’re pretty freaked out.

Rose tells you to ‘calm down’ and tosses you a helmet.

You’re on.

Alright, you have to admit something here.

You’ve never _actually_  been on a pro bending arena before.

Never actually played a real game before.

Sure, when you and Jade were kids you played some convoluted form of it in your backyard but it wasn’t _real_.

But you know the rules.

You know this game like the back of your hand.

Hypothetically.

You’ve basically watched every single one of Jade’s games _ever_. You’ve listened to games with Jade late into the night since you were kids. You _know_  this.

You hope.

You step onto the platform, heart hammering, breath catching.

You move into position.

The Firebender glances over at you and smirks.

“You ready to die, fucker?”

-

You lose.

But you would also like to point out that it _wasn’t your fault_.

The teams had come to a tie. You’d actually managed to _not die_  within the first five seconds of the game and had only fallen off once. The Firebender had seemed to make it his goal in life to basically kill you. You were the weak link and he knew that ( _everyone_  knew that) and he was going to exploit that.

But you had tied.

The Ref brought out a coin, and you knew (you _knew_ ) that if their team won the toss that they would choose Earth.

And that would be it.

You would lose the game and probably your life as well.

But it was blue.

It was _your team_.

You got to choose the element.

Of course Dave went. You think, in hindsight, that Rose would have been a much better choice but at the time, in the heat of the moment Dave going made the most sense.

So the Firebenders hashed it out.

It had seem pretty close there for a while, and Dave was actually looking like he might lose- but then his opponent faulted. He froze for about a half a second and that was all Dave needed before he took his shot.

And your team won.

You had actually won. Had actually tasted victory for a full half a minute before the other Firebender called foul.

The Refs went down to the field and talked with the two benders for a moment.

And then they agreed on the call.

Dave had said _something_. Something so- you don’t even know- so _terrible_  that it had made the other freeze and then gotten your team disqualified.

He still won’t tell you what he said.

Rose is pissed, understandably.

She won’t even look at her brother as you all make your way back to your house.

You’re all quiet as you all file into Jade’s room. She’s asleep but wakes up when Bec starts to growl.

“Oh-” yawns, coughs, “oh! Guys! You’re back! I- uh-” she glances at the radio. “I guess I fell asleep, sorry. Did- did we win?”

She apparently gathers her answer from everyone’s face. She turns to you, “It’s not your fault, John. You’re an unpracticed player! It was really cool of you to volunteer in my place though. Even if we didn’t win. It’s my fault for catching this stupid cold.”

“Oh, I know.” You say, and she blinks. “It’s not my fault. It’s Dave’s.”

Dave starts a protest up but freezes when Jade turns to look at him- her face blank.

“What.”

“It just _happened_ , my mouth got away from me and I said something I guess I shouldn’t have.” At least he looks apologetic now, before he just thought it was funny.

“What.”

“Dave,” says Rose, and her voice is tight and you know that she probably really just wants to yell right now, “apparently thought it was _funny_  to ruin what we all have been working so hard for. We got a tie, we had it. He could have won but instead he decided to fuck. It. Up.”

Being on the receiving end of either Jade’s or Rose’s anger is something that you don’t think anyone would want. And Dave is at the end of both. At the same time.

While Jade is still hounding Dave for losing Rose turns to you and gives you a friendly smile. “My apologies, John.” She says, “I was- ah- rude, earlier. I honestly did not think you were even capable of lasting in a game. So I’m sorry.”

You flap your hand at her, “It’s alright, Rose. I didn’t actually know if I could either, but I thought we might as well try. I’m glad we did too! Even if Dave was an idiot.”

Dave let’s out a ‘Hey!’ but everyone ignores his protests.

Rose nods, “It does appear that we’ve found a suitable backup earth bender if the need ever arises again.”

You swear that your ears aren’t burning. “I promise that I’ll train more,” you say, “I’ll work really really _really_  hard with Jade every day and get loads better.”

“I’m sure you will, John. You’re going to be a find bender one day.”

And until that day comes you’re going to keep on practicing.

 


End file.
